


Thoughts That Count

by Cookiewrites



Series: Silver Springs and Golden Gods [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Celtic Mythology & Folklore, Fairy Tale Elements, Inspired by Midas and the Golden Touch (Hellenistic Religion & Lore), King Victor Nikiforov, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, Prince Katsuki Yuuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 23:30:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18271307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cookiewrites/pseuds/Cookiewrites
Summary: A bonus scene for Rubies On Your Lips where JJ is the mean stepsister in the Fairytale.Included: JJ tries to be kind and is terrible, Isabella was probably an assassin, Gem-touch Victor sex Euphemisms and Yuuri is cute regardless of how many snakes there are.





	Thoughts That Count

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly really sorry to people who like JJ I swear I don't hate him he just makes it really easy to be the bad guy in my story. 
> 
> Also, as I wrote this I realised that Isabella and JJ met because Isabella was a mercenary or a thief or something, and I kinda want to explore that. There's a fairytale about a bird that steals apples that I think would really fit the theme of the series, and also give JJ a good light, so if we have any JJ girls holla at me and I might hit it up.

The rumours had spread to King JJ at last, which meant he was greatly annoyed.

  
Nikiforov had lost his Golden Touch in favour of crying pearls, laughing gold and diamonds falling from his hair.

  
And JJ was still millions in debt to the southern kingdom.

  
It wasn’t fair.

  
His Isabella demanded a wedding fit for her beauty and grace but with the economy in ruins and foreign policy failing he couldn’t justify the expenses of a wedding she deserved, to his people. They loved him, as most people did, but he was loved because he kept them fed as well as his amazing personality. But Nikiforov and Katsuki – they were getting two lavish weddings.

  
Apollo was the God of music, for gods sake! King JJ had far more talent and musicality than the entire of the Russiky empire combined. He should have won the favour of Apollo, and gained the woven jewels.

  
“How did he even get this gift? When I saw him, he was Touchless! He had nothing!” JJ glared around at his advisor. The man was small and hunched under the designer cloaks King JJ had made for his small council. Perhaps he should demand his council work out more. The man’s slouch was ruining JJ’s aesthetics.  
  
It was simple, JJ realised, he’d just have to find Apollo and recreate the aspects of the wish-granting.

  
“Someone fetch me my Page, I have a gift to gain!” He shouted, and the few guards milling about stood to attention.

 

\- -

 

  
“I’m pretty sure you were threatened with death should you ever return to Yutopia” Isabella noted, not making a move to stop JJ as he dressed in his most low-key robes.  
Despite being the least extravagant garment he owned, JJ’s robe were a flowing black with fur lining the collar and blue silk stitches weaving a lavish pattern of maple leaves barely noticeable unless under direct light.

  
“JJ, Darling, why don’t you just wear the simple tunic you had the first time you broke into the Royal Onsen? Why go this far.”

  
“My darling, last time I was pretending to be some dreadful mercenary to throw the world off of my scent. This time however,” He paused to look in the mirror, his torso twisting as he gazed at himself. “This time, I’m going to meet a god.”

  
“Oh.” Isabella had a sparkle in her eye. “Of course, Apollo must long to give you his gifts! I mean, you’re practically a god now! You’re the best King in the world nations.” JJ preened. “And with that Concerto you held in his honour …” Her eyelids fluttered. “Do you remember that night? When you sang your theme the first time?”

  
JJ looked just about ready to give her a repeat performance when there was movement at the door.

  
“Milord.” A voice cut through the chamber. Isabella sat up quickly, realising it was the Page and crossed the floor to JJ, ignoring the third party in the room to press against his side.

  
“Must you go alone?”

“My dear, when I return, a simple kiss from you will bring forth rubies! Victor won’t stand a chance.”

“That sounds like it would hurt.” She replied, hands trailing down his chest. “Rubies when they kiss? Pearls when he cries? What happens when Victor c-“

“Your ship is ready to depart.” The Page announced, cutting off her sentence, but not her smirk.

“I guess we’ll find out when I get back, won’t we?” JJ murmured, before kissing her one last time.

He stepped back, throwing his last bag at the Page before glancing back at his fiancée. “And when I get back, my darling, we’ll have a wedding party that even the gods turn up to.” Isabella’s answering smile would keep him going for the entire journey, he was sure.

\- -

He hated this journey.

  
When he first travelled to Yutopia, his Isabella had showed her ruthlessness. She’d been kind when the farmers could give her food, and terrifying when the bandits tried to steal it.

King JJ, unlike his most beloved and highly regarded Lady of court, had been raised getting any and everything he wanted with an announce of his name and that charming smile of his.

  
Apparently, his experience was not universal.

  
There was a two day ride from the boat docking the shore to the Imperial Onsen where King Victor gained his gifts from Apollo.

  
JJ’s horse had gone lame on the crossing, so it was only fair he try his beloved’s tactics. On his first quest, his Isabella had managed to trade some of JJ’s maple to a commoner for two horses and provisions. When JJ tried this, however, the men stole his maple with no horse nor any provisions.  
They also so his rucksack.

  
And his shoes.

  
Which came to the worse part; he had to cross a field of thorns to get to the city limits.

  
He stood at the edge of the field, his bare feet already scraped from having to walk so far without shoes. He could walk around it, but that would put at least three more days to his journey and he his ship had already been docked in Yutopia’s bays for too long.

  
“Excuse me, sir?” JJ looked around, he had to look twice through the thorns before he saw a girl standing to the side of the thorns.

  
“Hey there! Are you alright?”

  
“Yes, Sir, but my bunny, she’s stuck in the bramble.” She pointed to the middle of the bramble, far from what would be a direct path to the city. “Can you help me?” JJ looked at the little girl, and then back at the bramble.

  
“The rabbit is small enough to get through the bramble without my help, kid. I need to get to the palace.”

  
“Oh, okay. Good luck.”

  
“Aww! Thank you! Get some lettuce or cabbage or something, that should treat the rabbit out!” He turned around to look back at the path he would have to take, but before he could steel himself to take the first step, he heard a cry.

  
“What-?” He whipped around, towards where the girl had been and saw her caught in the bramble, obviously trying to get the rabbit by going through it herself.

  
“Oh, by the gods!” JJ cursed, taking off his lavish robe and moving forward after the girl. He used the robe to plough through the thorns until he got to the girl. She was stuck in so many ways, her hair caught up and her clothes tattered. He grabbed her, yanked her over his shoulder and started to walk back.

  
“Please, my bunny!” She said and pointed to the rabbit. Said Rabbit was in the worst patch of bramble he’d ever seen, hiding under a tree log that was balancing precariously. The rabbit was all torn up, one of its eyes were closed. JJ knew pretty clearly the thing was most likely going to die, whether he got to it or not.  
“The rabbits already half dead,” JJ told her, and had to refrain himself from rolling his eyes when she started to cry.

  
“Listen, kid. I’m a king. I know the bunny is your friend but it’s probably going to die anyway, and I need to go.” He told her, turning around and carrying her back to the bank. As soon as he got clear of the thorns, he put her down, and gave her some coins from the purse he’d hidden around his neck before he got mugged.

  
“Here, buy yourself a new bunny. A better one. You can even name It King JJ after me.” He ignored her crying, as children often do that, and made his way through the thorns.

  
“At least I’ve helped that kid.” He said to himself, as he moved through the bramble. “My Isabella would be so proud.” He paused, looking up. “I would make a great father.”

  
So the journey continued.

  
It took him the entire day to make it through the bramble, both his feet and his nicely woven robe was torn. Blood staining the fabric he was so proud of. He stumbled forward, and passed out.

  
When the morning rose he was that much closer to the blessed springs of Yutopia, and his feet had swollen in pain. The hours dragged by as he made it to the palace by dusk. Many of the attendants were busy focusing on the upcoming wedding, so worn out and harried that they paid no mind to JJ as he managed to slip through the guard rotations – a memory from when Isabella had helped him steal in, and finally he was in the Imperial royal Onsen.

  
And there was no god there.

  
“Apollo, oh patron of my household.” King JJ tried, “It is I, your most favoured worshipper, King JJ. Here to request an audience.” The seconds ticked by, and when there was no answer, he huffed, and decided he might as well use the healing waters of Apollo’s spring to fix his torn feet.

  
Without bother to bathe his feet in the water fountains, he moved to the famous pool, his feet finding the soothing water and his eyes shutting.

  
Not a second had passed when he opened his eyes again, a sound behind the walls of the pools startling him. His feet had healed, soothed within the few seconds he had placed them in the pool, so he got up to carefully investigate.

  
And what he found horrified him. The was some old women, obviously not meant to be there, tattered and sores covering her face, thin and dying.

  
“These pools are for royalty and nobility only.” He told her, making a motion to try to get her to leave.

  
“Please help me, I’m in pain.” She called, her voice crooked at dry.

  
“Yes, I can see that.” JJ replied, taking a step back.

  
“Would you help me into the waters?”

  
“Do I look like a servant to you?” JJ responded. “I’m a king, you should show me some respect, at least.”

  
“Your highness please, just a hand into the waters of Apollo’s springs. I should be strong enough to get out afterwards.” He hesitated, just long enough for the old hag to start coughing, so badly she almost curled in on herself. The sound was horrible, grating, and would surely scare of Apollo, god of music, if he were to hear.

 

“Will you leave, already? There are healers in the city, probably. There will be no help for you here.”

“You would not help an old women to the water?” She asked, and JJ turned away from her.

“I have people to do that sort of thing for me, maybe you should have done better in your life not to end up as a lonely dying old lady. Maybe a bath would help.” He told her, off handed. With his back to the old woman, he started to head towards Apollo’s spring, wondering if maybe he broke out in song, or lit a candle that would encourage the god to bestow his godly wealth upon the king.

  
“Thrice you have had the chance to give help to those who needed it, King of a broken land, and thrice you have refused it.”

  
“What?” JJ turned around, the voice of the old lady shifting, and the light grew brighter around him, so he had to close his eyes, or risk becoming blind.

  
“If before you were ugly inside, your thoughts and your desires, now your nature will be clear for everyone to see.”  
“Wait, what do you mean-“

“I told you if you ever came back here I’d have you killed.” The cold voice of Katsuki Yuuri, prince of Yutopia, woke King JJ from his dream.

  
King JJ turned to face the other man, and prince Yuuri stood, a small robe around him as he glared.

“I came to get the gift I rightfully deserved from Apollo.” JJ announced, not caring if Yuuri called the guards. He was confident that his Isabella would come get him out.

“Yuuri,” the familiar voice of King Victor called, growing closer with each word, “where did you get off to so suddenly- oh.” Victor stopped at the sight of JJ, unconcerned with his own half nakedness, King Victor’s glare matched his fiancée’s.

“What are you doing here, JJ?”

“How did you call upon Apollo?” JJ asked, ignoring the question.

“Did you get into Apollo’s spring without washing first?” Yuuri questioned, staring in horror at the bit of dirt that floated around JJ’s feet.

“Sweetums, while it’s a very bad thing to do, I don’t think that is what we should be focusing on here.” Victor said, turning to Yuuri. Yuuri, turned to him in kind, almost like he subconsciously moved toward’s Victor’s touch.

“Vitya do you know how much work goes into cleaning these pools? And that’s Apollo’s spring! It’s waters are supposed to be pure-“  
King JJ rolled his eyes, clearing his throat to gain their attention. They turned back instantly, but JJ felt he had something stuck in his throat, and when he opened his mouth, out fell a frog.

“Oh my gods.”

“By the gods.”

“Apollo be damned.” The three said at the same time. The couple stared at the frog in disbelief, JJ almost retching about the fact that slimey thing had been in his mouth.

“What the hell?” JJ exclaimed, looking up at the other two as the frog hoped away.

“Frog in your throat, perhaps?” Victor asked lightly, as if JJ hadn’t just had an amphibian crawl out of his mouth.

“What the hell?” JJ repeated, his hand running through his hair, except when he pulled his hand away, there were fleas, and he jumped back, almost falling into the pools fully.

“Why do I have fleas? What’s going on?” Yuuri and Victor had stepped back, looking on in dawning horror as JJ pulled the water up in his hands and tried to wash out the fleas from his hair. When water splashed on his face, and caused him to breath in some of the liquid, resulting in a coughing fit, with each cough a frog fell from his mouth.

“JJ, did you see Apollo?” Victor asked, hesitantly.

“Of course I haven’t!” JJ cried, and it felt like real tears were falling from his eyes, but when he went to wipe them away, he saw his tears were made of oil, crude and slimey.

“Listen, an old lady? It feels like a dream. She says she’s dying.”

“What about her?” JJ asked, panic meaning he wasn’t really listening to the other man speak.

“This is really important, JJ” Victor stated clearly. “what did you tell her?”

“I said she shouldn’t have been such a hag if she didn’t want to be alone and dying and that she didn’t deserve a king’s help.” He told them, obviously not fully aware of what he had done, more focused of the bugs in his hair and the oil in his eyes.

“JJ, I hate to tell you this, but I think you’re cursed.” Victor’s voice did not sound like he particularly hated to tell JJ anything at all, but the sentence did make the other man pause.

“What?”

“That old lady was Apollo. The whole thing was a test. I think you failed.” Yuuri was by his side, looking particularly happy despite his onsen was now covered with all sorts of creature making their way away from the cursed king.

“That’s ridiculous.” JJ laughed, and when he laughed, locusts fell from him mouth. “Oh my gods. This isn’t-“ He bolted from the two men, out of the springs, falling as he tried to get away from Yutopia. Cursing everything in existence. There had to be a way to fix this. He’d make a festival in Apollo’s honour. Save every bunny he came across. Give all old people free baths.

He would never, go back to that damned country again.

Back at the onsen, Victor and Yuuri were still staring at where King JJ had hastily departed.

“Shouldn’t we send the guards after him, or something?” Victor asked, neither of them making any more to follow. “He did try to kidnap me last time, and you did make a promise to kill him if he ever stepped foot in Yutopia.” Yuuri shrugged, idly using his foot to push away some of the frogs from towards the ponds in the gardens before they could take root in the Onsen’s pools.

“I’m pretty sure it’d be worse for him to live with that.”

“Hmm.” Victor agreed idly. “I wonder if Isabella will still marry old frog throat now.” Yuuri snorted at the nickname.

“Would you marry me if I coughed frogs.” Yuuri questioned, looking at his future husband inquiringly.

“Even if you coughed snakes.” Yuuri laughed.

“How is that worse?”

“Snakes are long! You’d have to pull them out, also they’re creepy. Their tongues can sense you.”

“I think snakes are kinda cute.” Victor moved towards Yuuri, wrapping his arms around him.

“I think you’re kinda cute.” He told, and in between the frogs and oil and fleas, a ruby fell to the ground.

“And it’s the thought that count, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> The "thrice you didn't do a good deed" thing comes from the fact I almost put in another scene where apollo appeared as a boy dying of thirst and asked for JJ to feed, cloth and water him just after the field of thorns thing, but since this was just supposed to be a bonus scene I didn't want to add to much to the story. 
> 
> Up next on this series: the World Tourney and the REAL first time Victor and Yuuri meet, prequel edition.


End file.
